Football Sugar Cookies

I'm a big football fan, especially college football.  Can you guess which team I like? USC? Yep, you got it!  Maybe its because I went to USC for my undergraduate and graduate degrees during the peak era of Pete Carroll.  Anyways, I was very excited for our first home game this weekend (despite all the drama surrounding USC football lately, which most people could care less about, I'm sure!) and decided it was the perfect event to give royal icing a go. 

I've been making sugar cookies my entire life for every holiday with my mom.  Yes, we force the men in the family to help us decorate the countless cookies, even though it's probably their least favorite thing.  However, we have always used the old standby easy mix of powdered sugar and milk to ice our cookies.  After seeing amazingly iced sugar cookies with lots of beautiful details on many other blogs, I knew I had to try royal icing.

                               

My favorite sugar cookie recipe is perfect for intricate cookie cutters as the do not change their shape when baked.  They taste amazing too!  I really think they are the perfect sugar cookie.  One of my friends who doesn't usually like sugar cookies thought they were great!

If you are looking for this cookie cutter to make cookies for your next tailgate, I got it at Sur La Table.

                              

The Perfect Sugar Cookie

Makes about 3 dozen 3" cookies

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and slowly mix into butter mixture.  Mix until flour is completely incorporated and dough hold together.

Refrigerate dough for at least an hour.

When ready to roll out dough, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Roll out dough to desired thickness on well floured work surface.  I like thicker cookies and roll them out to a little more than 1/4 inch thick.  Bake on parchment paper or a baking mat for 8-10 minutes until just golden brown.  Let cool completely before icing.

For my royal icing, I turned to Bridgit at Bake at 350.  She also has vlogs, that show you exactly how to do it here: University of Cookies. 

Have fun!